Senate Set to Review Dodd-Frank

After a long day of deliberation and negotiation, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs voted late Tuesday afternoon in favor of sending S. 2155, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, to the full Senate for a floor debate. Supported by Republicans and some moderate Democrats, the bill would make significant changes to the Dodd-Frank reform bill passed in 2010. The final vote to advance the new bill was 16-7 in favor.

Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Chairman of the Banking Committee, said, “The bill has received widespread support from commentators, regulators, businesses, and institutions representing millions of hard working Americans and consumers, including over 10,000 community bankers, more than 100 million credit union consumer members, and thousands of small business owners and entrepreneurs, among others.”

The bill would modify key parts of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Under the bill, banks with assets less than $100 billion would be immediately exempted from federal stress tests. Banks with less than $10 billion in assets would be exempted from the Volcker rule, which restricts U.S. banks from certain speculative investments. It would also change the threshold for systemically important financial institutions (SIFI) from $50 billion to $250 billion.

"These reforms make progress toward Treasury’s core financial principles released in June and demonstrate bipartisan support to re-balancing our regulatory framework,” said recently sworn-in Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting in a statement. “I look forward to working with the members of the committee and fellow regulators to continue this work in the weeks and months ahead.”

Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) criticized the bill, saying, “There’s nothing to help people with record high levels of student loan debt; nothing to help those with underwater mortgages; and nothing to help workers who are struggling to get by.”

“I guarantee you that without this bill the only people that we would be empowering are the big banks,” Sen. Tester said.

Sen. Crapo said, “The reforms in this bipartisan bill help tailor the current regulatory landscape, while ensuring safety and soundness and relieving the burden on American businesses that are unfairly being treated like the largest companies in our economy.”

David Wharton has been a freelance writer and editor for over 13 years, contributing to publications such as The Daily Dot, CinemaBlend, ScreenRant, and Creative Screenwriting Magazine. He holds a B.A. in English from the University of Texas at Arlington. He lives in Texas with three children, four dogs, and his wife.